Cultivating
Leadership
Published by LEAD New York, The Empire State Food & Agricultural Leadership Institute
Fall 2016
Agriculture Connects Us
By Challey Comer, Blue Apron Foods, Class 16 Fellow
B
INSIDE
y the time this newsletter arrives in
your mailbox, you’ll have had your
fill of news about the state of politics
in our country. So, let me get straight to my
point. It is times like these that programs
like LEAD-NY are more vital than ever.
Our LEAD class brings a diversity of
opinions when it comes to the central issues
facing our industry. We discuss labor, biotechnology, consumer opinion and regulation. Regardless of where we stand on these
issues, or who we might have voted for, our
monthly sessions create an opportunity for
us to deepen our understanding of these
issues and to gain an appreciation of those
whose opinions differ from our own. As an
urban dweller (with a funny name and a job
title with the word sustainability in it), mine
is often a minority voice. The relationships I
have developed through LEAD have shown
time and again that the core values we share
are more aligned than they are not.
My career has been built upon connecting rural and urban communities through
food. After spending the vast majority of
my life upstate, I moved to the city a few
years ago. It’s a familiar brain drain story.
Perspectives2
Fundraising Donors
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Alumni Spotlight
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News You Can Use
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Donation Form
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Education and hitting the upper limit of
professional opportunities commutable
from the small community where I lived
drove the move.
Agriculture is my chosen industry
because it allows me to work in service to
the land and support the Upstate communities that I care about. I care about vibrant
streams with healthy wildlife habitats,
supporting our communities through
a working landscape, and viable small
businesses prepared to transition through
many generations to come. Although I now
live in the city, I am still able to do work
connected to these values.
During our first year in LEAD, I had the
opportunity to be on the program team for
our visit to New York City. Our time in the
city included visits to sites that demonstrate
the ways in which city and country meet.
Hundreds of thousands of people walk
through the Union Square Greenmarket
and have the opportunity to buy directly
from nearly 150 farmers from across the
northeast selling their goods four days a
week throughout the year. This is one of
the country’s largest market sites, but it
is also only one of well over one hundred
farmers’ markets where connections of this
type happen. The largest FFA program in
the state teaches students in Queens about
crop production and animal husbandry at
their small on-campus farm. These students
also take field trips or complete summer
internships on farms Upstate. Food access
programs designed to make New York
State foods accessible to communities of all
types are the result of the commitment of
farmers, policymakers, institutional buyers,
and distributors.
The personal development goals I have
created for my second year in LEAD are
related to showing more confidence in my
role as an advocate for agriculture. Today
I advocate for the role of our industry in
bridging the divide our nation is facing.
Let us use agriculture as a vehicle that
connects us. As I continue through
year two, I will work to gain a better
understanding of those whose opinions
differ from mine and continue to speak up
for the values we share: a commitment to
our communities, land stewardship, and
vibrant businesses. f
Cultivating Leadership is a publication of Cornell University’s LEAD New York Program, edited by Larry Van De Valk.
For more information about LEAD New York, our program, and past publications, please visit www.leadny.org.
Cornell University is an equal opportunity affirmative action educator and employer.
P e rs p e c t ive s
By Larry Van De Valk, Executive Director, LEAD New York
A Crisis of Trust?
And what LEAD New York tries to do about it
On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave one of the most important speeches of
his presidency, in which he suggested the United States was suffering from a “crisis of
confidence”. Why? Think about what was going on at the time. At home we were dealing
with an energy crisis, recession and hyper-inflation. Abroad the Russians had invaded
Afghanistan, we were at the height of our “Cold War” with them, and we also had the
Iranian hostage crisis, including a failed military rescue attempt. On both domestic and
international fronts, our country’s stature had been weakened, and as a country we weren’t
feeling too good about the way things were going. Unfortunately, many would argue that
our national morale isn’t much better today. But I would argue that today our problems
have less to do with a crisis of confidence, and much more to do with a crisis of trust.
THINK ABOUT IT: we see an absence of
trust in so many aspects of our society, from
our national politics right down our local
institutions and communities. Allow me to
offer a few examples.
It is safe to say that the recent election
results surprised many in our country,
including political pundits and the media.
Since election night, much of the coverage has focused on the question “Why did
Donald Trump win?” I think the more
important question may be “Why did Hillary
Clinton lose?” Though Clinton was arguably
far more qualified for the role (having served
as First Lady, state senator, Secretary of State,
etc.), she had been dogged by one consistent
liability throughout her political career:
perceptions of “untrustworthiness”. (I’m
not suggesting Trump’s integrity is much
better, by the way.) Recent LEAD classes
will remember a leadership competency
activity that we do in our program, in which
“trust and integrity” are always identified as
competencies that any effective leader must
possess. Ample evidence in the management
literature also identifies betrayal of trust as
a significant contributing factor to leader
derailment. In our presidential election,
we have seen the effect of that lack of trust.
(State government leaders don’t score much
better – consider the fact that the recent
leaders of both chambers of our state legislature were convicted of corruption charges.)
It’s not just government where there is a
dearth of trust, either. Consider all of the
scandals surrounding executive leaders
in corporate America today - be it in the
banking, automotive, pharmaceuticals,
insurance, or energy industries - whatever.
Let’s use Wells Fargo as one recent example:
employees opened thousands of customer
accounts without their consent so that they
PG 2
could meet their sales targets (and so the
bank could collect millions of dollars in
fees). Sure, when the scandal was uncovered,
hundreds of employees lost their jobs, but
the executives that lead these efforts? They
retired with the proverbial golden parachute.
When I was younger, I remember news
anchor Walter Cronkite had earned the
title of “most trusted man in America”. Is
that true of the media today? One of the
reasons we have so many news channels to
choose from is that if we don’t like what we
hear from one station, we can easily turn
to another that has a message more to our
liking. Regardless of which network you
prefer, far fewer people today would agree
that they completely trust what they hear
from any news outlet. This is not Walter
Cronkite’s journalism anymore.
This crisis of trust appears in cultural and
social issues as well. Consider the move by
many municipalities throughout our country
to require their law enforcement officers
to wear body cameras. Certainly, the vast
majority of our peace officers are trustworthy
and have earned the respect of our citizenry.
But because of the questionable actions of
a small minority, certain segments of our
society have lost faith in the trustworthiness
of these public servants, hence the call for
widespread use of body cameras, in part to
monitor their behavior.
But does this “crisis of trust” trickle down
into our industry, into your world? You bet
it does.
Dr. Kevin Folta is Chair of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University
of Florida, and this year’s winner of the
Borlaug CAST Communication Award
(BCCA), a prestigious award presented to
those who do a stellar job of communicating
in the arena of agricultural science and tech-
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I began writing
this article before the results of
the recent election were known,
and finished it shortly afterwards.
Regardless of where you stand on
the outcome, the point remains the
same. Note that I am not trying
to make a political statement, but
rather share some thoughts and
observations on broader cultural
issues in American society. True to
the heading of this newsletter section,
offering my Perspectives, if you will.
nology. At the World Food Prize event this
past October, in his keynote address – titled
“Unveiling Our Halo – Building Trust with a
Concerned Consumer” – Folta stated “Lead
with your ethics – facts by themselves won’t
work. We need to listen, explain, and gain
their trust [emphasis added] by developing a
shared understanding.”
We’ve heard similar messages from other
consumer research. For example, in a recent
Farm Credit Canada study, they found that
while farmers still earn the highest trustworthiness rating (69%) among survey
respondents, the ratings drop off steadily as
you move up the value chain or increase in
size of the organization, with government
agencies and food industry organizations
earning some of the lowest ratings (35% and
30% respectively). Put another way, while
a consumer is likely to trust a farmer down
the road, they are just as likely to distrust
the industry that farmer represents. And to
underscore the importance of trust, Todd
Klink of Farm Credit Canada added: “Trust
has more currency than science.”
So what is LEAD New York doing about
this crisis of trust? Presidential politics may
be a bit out of our league. But we can help our
aspiring leaders learn to lead with integrity,
earning the trust of their neighbors, customers and colleagues. We have long said that
one of the primary outcomes of our program
is that we build social capital, and one of the
basic tenets of social capital theory is that
there exists a norm of mutual trust and reciprocity. Trust begets trust. We begin by trusting each other and earning the trust of those
around us. If each of us can do that, then our
own little corner of the world becomes a little
brighter. And if enough of us do that, eventually our whole world might just start to look a
little better. Let’s hope so. f
LEADNY thanks the following individuals and businesses who have
invested in the future leadership of our industry and communities:
Over $50,000
Larry Van De Valk
Jonathan Burns
Lucinda Noble
Over $25,000
$500—$999
Northeast Agricultural Education
Foundation, Inc.
American Agriculturist Foundation Endowment Fund
$10,000—$24,999
Farm Credit Endowment Fund
$5,000—$9,999
Friends of Pro-Fac Fund
Diane and George Conneman
Endowment Fund
Lowell Smith Circle of Courage
Fund
Cargill Animal Nutrition
Farm Credit East
Eastern Produce Council
$2,500—$4,999
Northeast Ag Education Foundation Endowment Fund
Monsanto Endowment Fund
National Grape Cooperative
Endowment Fund
Seneca Foods Endowment Fund
Sheldon Brown
Donald Bay
Laurie Griffen
Erie and Niagara Insurance
NY Corn & Soybean Growers
Assoc. -Soybean Checkoff
$1,000—$2,499
Walnut Ridge Dairy – Hardie,
Palladino, Fleming
New York Wine & Grape Foundation
New York Farm Bureau
Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc.
David DeLaVergne
Greg Wickham
Holtz-Nelson Dairy Consultants Corwin Holtz
Sunoco, Inc
M-B Farms, Inc. – Kenneth Mattingly
Royal-J-Acres, LLC – Keith Pierce
Bentley Bros., Inc.
My-T Acres, Inc. – Peter Call
Thomas Facer
James Vincent
Northeast Ag and Feed Alliance,
Inc.
Kreher’s Farm Fresh Eggs
Commodity Resource Corporation
– Matt Cole
Midstate Mutual Insurance Company
Peters LakeAire Orchards, LLC –
Adam Peters
Dave Rockwell
Monroe Tractor
Richard Call
Willow Bend Farm – John, George
& Mary Lue Mueller
Robert Lamont Farm, LLC – Roger
and Ingrid LaMont
DeBuck’s Sod Farm of New York,
Inc. – Leonard DeBuck
NBT Bancorp
Earthwise, Inc. – Mark Bitz
Corey Mosher
Thomas Felton
Allenwaite Farms, Inc. – George
Allen
Anne Farella
Douglas Shelmidine
William Young
CY Farms, LLC – Christian Yunker Margaret Murray
Robert A. Smith
Lakewood Vineyards
Falcone Farms, Inc.
New York Apple Sales, Inc.
Western NY Energy
Double-A Vineyards – Sue Rak
David Emerson
Andrew Rice
Chip Hyde
Gramco, Inc.
Miller Spraying
$250 - $499
Harold Smith
Kevin Murphy
Roberta Severson
McCormick Farms, Inc.
Humphreys Farm, Inc.
Saunderskill Farms
Dean Norton
North Harbor Dairy, LLC – Ronald
Robbins
Jim Walker
Gregory Comeau
Suzy Hayes
Timothy Rose
Richard Butler
Richard McClenning
Robbiehill Dairy – Pat McCormick
Kristine Rogers-Gansz
Karen Wadsworth
Tristan Zuber
Andrew Dugan
Cynthia Stiglitz
David Fisher
Swede Farms, LLC – Jason Swede
Tom Gerow
Ryan Hrobuchak
Mark Modzeleski
Judith Whittaker
Samuel Filler
WagnerMillwork, Inc. – Tom
Gerow
Chelsea Smith
Eric LaClair
Justin Brown
John Caltabiano
Thomas Cosgrove
Clifford Crouch
Tom Della Rocco
Cassander Gilmore
George Allen
Kate Wheeler
Dudley Chaffee
David Horn
Linda McCandless
Yankee Farm Credit
Robert Bitz
Berry Brothers Lumber, LLC
Kelly Young
Brett Kreher
Julie Suarez
Singer Farm LLC
Willet Dairy, Inc.
H.H. Dobbins, Inc.
Up to $249
Michael Decker
Timothy Marshall
Karin Bump
Craig Wilcox
Dianne Domoy
Richard Church
Russell Marquart
Rob Carpenter
Hans Kunze
Gary Bradley
Stephen Coye
Paula Burke
Raymond Denniston
F. Brandon Mallory
Cortland Bulk Milk Producers
Coop.
Ellen Abend
Eleanor Jacobs
Janet Brown
Reed’s Seeds
Harris-Pero Legal Counsel – Megan
Harris-Pero
Michael Lynch
James & Margo Bittner
Patricia Casler
Jeremiah Cosgrove
Diane Held
Mark Masler
KC Bailey Orchards, Inc. - Charles
Bailey
Evan Schiedel
Thomas Klapper
Native Offerings Farm, LLC – Deb
& Stewart Ritchie
John Kast
Westwind Farms – James Czub
Robert Smith John Mueller
David Chamberlain
John Paul Ruszkiewicz
Daniel Wolf
Phil Giltner
Julia Smith, DVM, PhD
Carol & Jim Doolittle
James Pirrung
NYS Grange
Tanner Insurance Agency
Steven Ammerman
Lawrence Eckhardt
John Fessenden
Jon Greenwood
21 Brix Winery – Kristopher Kane
Jennifer Karelus
Jefffery Kirby
Todd Lighthall
Jeannette Kreher
Melissa Osgood
Kevin Maloney
J. Bryce Ireland
Chad Hendrickson
Karleen Krisher-Meehan
Ann Noble-Shephard
Beth Chittenden
Patience Frysinger
Rella Moag Getty
Donald Lein
Judy Littrell
Joan Petzen
David Pugh
Caroline Rasmussen
James Smith
Judith Smith
Scott Weissmann
Barbara Hanselman
Daniel Welch
Challey Comer
Veronique Krohn
Brenda Avedisian
Peter Pamkowski
Bruce Dehm
Douglas Brodie
Elizabeth Claypoole
Thomas Corcoran
Sharad Mathur
James McKee
Nancy Morey
Laura Pedersen
Mark Russell
Ryan Akin
Helen Calvelli & Jorge Filler
David Haight
Theron Kibbe
Kenneth Marley
Jenny Montalbano
Elizabeth VanBuren
Bethany Wallis
Christopher Whipple
Andrew Wormuth
Kristina Reedy
Robert Cross
Peter Terry
PLEASE NOTE: All donors marked in italics are LEAD alumni or current class members. The names listed represent donations received from July 1, 2015
through November 11, 2016 for Class 16. If you have made a donation since then or we have inadvertently omitted your name, please accept our apologies.
PG 3
Spot l i g h t O n. . .
Phil Giltner, First Deputy
Commissioner, NYS Department of
Agriculture and Markets, Class 13
LEAD: Please tell us a little about your current position at NYSDAM – responsibilities, etc.
PG: It’s hard for me to believe, but I’ve been at the
Department of Agriculture & Markets now for over eight
years. For the last three years, I’ve been Deputy Commissioner. For a while, I was working on the administrative
end of the agency’s work: being in charge of fiscal affairs,
HR, IT, emergency preparedness, and a number of
special projects. Since last spring, I’m still working on the
agency’s IT, but now I’m also in charge of the Agricultural Development Division, Weights and Measures and
a number of other topics ranging from county fairs to
biofuels. The real highlight of my workweek is to support
two of the Governor’s marquee projects in our industry, Taste NY and the New York Grown and Certified
program.
LEAD: What other leadership roles do you serve in?
PG: For over three years now, I have been on the board
of directors of the Adirondack North Country Association, which is a public-private partnership for social and
economic development in the region that ranges from
the Thousand Islands down to the outskirts of the Capital
District. I also have just joined the board of the Food
Bank of Northeastern New York, which covers the region
from the Canadian border down to the Putnam-Rockland County area. I try to concentrate on ways that we
can improve the quality of life in our rural areas.
LEAD: You came in to LEAD class 13 with little to
no agricultural background. Now you are a senior
administrator with our state department of agriculture
and markets. How did LEAD help you prepare for that
role?
PG: Well, I did do some work in the political end of this
world, helping then-congresswoman Gillibrand when
she represented eastern NY But I enrolled in LEAD-NY
when I joined Ag & Markets, and did my experience
there ever prepare me for what I do these days. Not only
do I have a lot of exposure to the industry in New York, it
also put me in touch with a tremendous group of people
who can help me be effective at my job to promote and
protect agriculture and the food system in New York. I
PG 4
can pick up the phone and find a friend anywhere and in
any segment. It’s been the real bedrock of my work.
LEAD: Your involvement with LEAD since you
graduated has been great. You have served as a speaker
to subsequent classes on several occasions, you serve
on our board of directors, and this winter you will
travel with the Class 16 Fellows on their international
study trip to SE Asia. Please comment on the value of
your continued engagement with the program, and
what would you say to other alumni about remaining
engaged with the program.
PG: Thanks! I thought I was just trying to get out of the
house! I actually love doing this sort of thing. I used to be
a prep-school teacher and college professor, so I love the
give and take of that kind of work. This allows me to keep
in touch with those who are in the program and in the
industry, to get out there and see what people are doing. I
hope also that it helps to keep us all in touch when we are
all pretty busy with our day jobs. I think that one of the
biggest parts of the program is to be part of that community: when you are an alum of the program, you really
can get and give a lot just by staying in touch.
LEAD: Beyond advice to alumni, do you have any
advice for the current fellows?
PG: This question really follows on what I was thinking
about with respect to your last question. While the subject matter of LEAD was certainly one of the first things
I tell people about, the bigger gain for me has been that
I have joined the LEAD network. I can only encourage
alumni, current, and future fellows to stay in touch with
each other. That’s the real enduring value. I tell everyone
in the class not to be shy, to reach out to one another, and
be open from the start: by the time you get to the end of
the course, you will certainly wish you spent more time
with your classmates.
LEAD: Please comment on the importance of securing
applicants for each new cohort that are diverse, talented, robust, etc. Why does this matter for our industry?
PG: Again, that’s the whole thing about the program. It’s
not just that we’re in the agriculture and food industry.
continued on page 6
Still time to sign up
for the LEAD Alumni
Trip to Ireland in July!
LEADNY will host its first-ever alumni
study trip to Ireland, July 21 – 29,
2017 (with an optional 3-day add-on
to Scotland). Quite a few have already
signed up, but there is still room for
more. The trip will be limited to the
first 30 people to sign up. Spouses/
partners/adult guests are welcome. For
full details, including an itinerary, costs
and registration form, please visit www.
worldwide.on.ca/ireland2017. This will
be an affordable, informative, enjoyable
getaway to the “emerald isle”. We hope
you will join us!
News
YOu Ca n Use
Class 16 Fellows to
hold silent auction
at Ag Society Annual
Forum
Continuing another tradition, the
Class 16 Fellows will hold a silent
and live auction in conjunction with
the Ag Society Annual Forum. Due
to the popularity of the live auction
event the past couple of years (lots of
items donated and the live auction
running late into the night), they have
decided to auction off at least some
of the items in a silent auction format
during the annual forum. Stop by
the LEADNY booth in the exhibit/
reception room to bid on items, and if
you are the successful bidder, you can
pick them up following dinner. But
not to worry, we will save a few items
for the live auction in the hospitality
suite – as it has become a fun activity
to enjoy. If you have an item you
would like to donate, please let Laura
Bentley know (laura@classicteacup.
com) and we will figure out how to get
the item from you.
A lum n i N e w s , O p p o rtuni t i e s & Ev e n t s
Executive Director completes pre-trip to SE Asia
Larry recently completed a pre-trip to the Philippines and Vietnam, in preparation
for the Class 16 Fellows study trip to those countries in February. Suffice it to say, the
Fellows are going to have an outstanding educational experience! There is so much
going on in that part of world – from natural disaster recovery to significant trade
agreements to political changes to climate change and its impact on agriculture and
food production – all of which will challenge our Fellows’ critical thinking skills and
their world view. It will be a life-changing experience for many. Stay tuned for more
information following our trip.
Help us recruit
applicants for
Class 17
Even as we are actively engaged in the
second year program for our current
class, by the time you receive this
newsletter our recruitment season for
Class 17 will be in full swing. Program
staff, alumni, board and current
class members will be in attendance
at a variety of events throughout
the winter months, and we will be
running plenty of advertisements
and press releases in a variety of
industry publications. But nothing
beats one-on-one recruitment efforts,
and YOU are our best recruiters!
Please think earnestly about a
person in your network that would
make a good LEAD class member,
and then actively recruit them to
apply to our program. Applications
will be available January 3 and will
be due March 1. All materials and
information will be available via our
website at www.leadny.org. Please help
us recruit a strong applicant pool!
See you at the NYS
Ag Society Annual
Forum in January
The NYS Agricultural Society Annual
Forum will be Thursday, January 5
at the Holiday Inn, Liverpool. This
year’s theme will revolve around
partnerships and collaboration, with
a slightly new format, including
several afternoon breakout sessions
offered. As always, this is the single
largest gathering of LEADNY
alumni of the year, so it’s a great way
to catch up with old friends and
meet some new ones! And it’s also
a great event to bring a prospective
LEADNY applicant to, giving them
an opportunity to see the tremendous
network of leaders that have come out
of our program. Consider inviting a
prospective applicant to join you that
day. Registration information can be
found at the Ag Society website at
www.nysagsociety.org.
PG 5
Spotlight... continued from page 4
We’re in the government and nonprofit industry. We’re in the rural
leadership industry. This is a big state. We have one of the world’s
greatest metropolises, and it naturally takes up a lot of people’s
attention. But it should be remembered that there are 2.3 million
New Yorkers who live in rural areas, and that’s bigger number than
seventeen entire states. We need to make sure we are properly organized and have the leadership we need to make sure we do as well as
we can.
LEAD: Please share a significant take-home from your LEAD experience…Perhaps a distinct lesson that you learned, your fondest
memory from the program, etc.
PG: You see and learn so many things in the program, it’s hard to
pick a single one. Our study trip to Scotland was a great experience,
but even some more routine stuff like “Libertyville,” the debates, or
Hunts Point all stick out in my memory. However, the single most
amazing thing I have seen in this industry was something from
the “after session” event we had in Ithaca once: robotic milkers still
astonish me.
LEAD: Anything else you wish to share?
PG: One of my favorite things about LEAD is that every single
session has something for everyone. Some things in a regular agenda
might be something that you know pretty well—for example, I knew
already how to speak in front of a room, having been a teacher for
a number of years—but there’s always, always, always something to
learn. It’s also a great chance to see how others are doing out there, to
get outside of your daily routine. It’s so easy to get into a rut, and the
course itself, and your network of LEAD-Grads helps to keep you on
your toes. f
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Happy
Holidays!
Larry Van De Valk, PhD
Executive Director
(607) 255-7907 • [email protected]
www.leadny.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Harold Smith, President
Greg Comeau, Vice President
Beth Ahner, Justin Brown, William Drake,
Larry Eckhardt, David Fisher,
Patience Frysinger, Phil Giltner,
Charles Mooney, Steve Palladino,
Dave Rockwell, Amie Thomas, Erin Tones,
Rick Zimmerman